so Ml': I'LAlE-NAMKS OF TSOLO. 615 



((/) Dutch names are met with only occasionally in this 

 region, the tiow of emigration having gone further north. Never- 

 theless some pioneers i)ressed eastwards and added their quota to 

 the list of place-names. One or two " neks " indicate their 

 presence, and a few stray names. 



Thus the Inxu River is still spoken of as the Wildebeest, 

 and a small stream finds it way down from the Gatberg, away in 

 the Drakensberg Range, and so is named. Diko's Nek, and 

 Nkwancu Nek. and I\)t !\ivier i the Tsitsa) also serve as 

 reminders. 



VI 1 . — General Names. 



These also are but a small class, indicating kloofs, junctions, 

 waterfalls, aloes, stones, and other groups of objects. 



Thus we meet with etyeni, " at the stones," fairly often, and 

 Ngqubusiui, " at the waterfall," or Ngxangxasini, used to indicate 

 the same place. Aniakala, " the aloes," Auunva, " the precipices," 

 Mad'a'aleiu (a name which I believe hides a new word), used of 

 certain large exposed stone surfaces ; and other similar general 

 terms. Mdihanisi^eni, " at the meeting place," from itku-diba- 

 iiisa, "to mix together se])arate things"; eiigxiiig^ceni, "at the 

 kloof "; ■' esikokveni. " at the school." 



VTIL — Names Derived from Non-Native Sources. 



i'his is another small but interesting section. 



lingesenges. — For long this name was an enigma to me. 

 \\\Q\\ now it seems to be fading from memory, for careful enquiry 

 in the neighbourhood was without result until I got the clue. There 

 had been a great "battle" up the valley very many years ago; some 

 of the old cannon w^ere still lying about. The English soldiers had 

 defeated a large native army. The natives had cried out in their 

 way, " English ! English !" Thtis had the name been born. I 

 have been told that as a matter of fact the soldiers had been sent 

 to help this native remnant who had been hard pressed, in 

 Tshaka's time, and were fleeing from him. Through some error, 

 when they did fall in with the natives they had come to befriend 

 they attacked them and slaughtered them, thinking they were 

 enemies. On this point the history books do not give us much 

 enlightenment. 



Liitshintsho, in much the same way represented the effort of 

 the native to reproduce our English word " change." At this 

 particular spot the post-carts were wont to change their horses 

 year in and year out, and no doubt that word woxild tend to be 

 Kaffirised. 



Balasi goes back to the days of unrest, when the police, 

 camping for the night, perhaps for a long period, at this spot, 

 made a barracks. As is well known the native cannot pronounce 

 the r sound, which is invariably changed into /, and so balasi 

 seems to have emerged. 



Mabulu. — Along similar lines, the Boers coming among the 



